Photograph taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer of a view of the satinwood bridge over the Mahaweli Ganga river at Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. Peradeniya is famed for its Botanical Gardens, established by the British in what was once the pleasure gardens of the Sinhala kings. The graceful single-arch satinwood bridge was constructed by Lt. General John Fraser, who was a proficient road-builder and cartographer. It was in use from 1833-1905. Satinwood is the name for a hard and durable wood with a lustrous sheen like satin. It comes from two tropical trees of the family Rutaceae. East Indian or Sri Lankan satinwood is a yellowish or dark-brown heartwood of Chloroxylon swietenia.